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East Baton Rouge Parish schools work to find teachers amid nationwide teacher shortage

2 years 10 months 1 week ago Wednesday, December 01 2021 Dec 1, 2021 December 01, 2021 7:41 PM December 01, 2021 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE- In East Baton Rouge Parish, schools are working around the clock to fill teaching jobs.

But with fewer teachers to go around, the job is much tougher.

For East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools, officials say there are between 90 to 100 vacancies.

A job fair held Wednesday at Jefferson Terrace Academy was set in hopes to fill the gaps.

"When you have a lack of staff, it puts more pressure on the ones that are here, and when they get burned out, the students suffer," Tiffany Carter with Riveroaks Elementary School said.

What we're seeing in Baton Rouge is not unusual.

Dana Morrison heads recruitment for the district and says there's a teacher shortage across the U.S.

"After the pandemic, we're seeing a lot of change. There is a teacher shortage nationwide, but one of the things we have to realize as educators is that change is often the catalyst for new things and innovation," Morrison said.

Schools have been pulling out the stops with incentives.

The school system has things in place like the "Unlock Your Potential" program, where any employee in the district can receive free training to become a certified teacher.

There's also The Temporary Authority to Teach program for those like Tiffany Carter. It allows people with a degree to teach for a year while they study for their certification.

"We take it one step at a time. You might make mistakes, but you have somebody there to help you and get you through it," Carter said.

The district hopes a push for these programs will help to get more teachers in the classroom.

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